A Mass Akuma Situation
by kireiflora
Summary: ...is not so easily forgotten. Nathaniel is here to ask the important questions, and if he accidentally exposes a couple people by asking them...well...its not a bad thing exactly. ((Spoilers for the episode: Ladybug!))


There's a few things about (the episode) Ladybug that bug me, but this is one that I just couldn't ignore, so Nathaniel is here to be my mouth piece to get it started.

Because someone has to be suspicious about that, right?

This picks up on the morning after, where Mari's back in school, though how exactly hasn't been explained to the class yet.

* * *

After all was said and done and Marinette was back in school, there was still an unanswered question on one persons mind.

"Remember Hero's day?" Nathaniel asked the quiet class while they waited for Bustier to arrive.

Heads turned looking back up at him. "What about it?" Lila asked, trying to figure out the angle of the question.

"Hawkmoth...he used the apparent demise of Chat Noir to akumatize a lot of people, something he had to have a hand in creating!" he was a little passionate, working with Marc had had him thinking of stuff like this with more of a plot. Hero's day was planned, down to every detail except the end, he had no doubts.

"Yeah, Ladybug even said as much that day." Alya chimed in, tilting her head and hoping nobody would ask her how she knew that, "Where-"

"And then! From Prime Queens broadcast, we saw he used Dark Cupid to make the right emotions to re-reakumatize." he had gotten started now and he was going to keep talking until he lost the thought, looking around the confused gazes of his classmates and begging them to understand.

"That's right." Alix offered, "But I'm not sure the po-"

"How did he know to send so many akuma to our school? He had to be somehow ready to pull that out! He only does it when he has a plan to cause that much emotion!" Nathaniel was struggling with the weight of all the now incredulous stares. "How could he have known? How could he have been ready for something like that?"

You could've heard a pin drop as the rest of the class tried to figure it out.

"Well..." Max started reluctantly, reaching up and pushing his glasses back as he continued, "I suppose the answer to that question lies in who framed Marinette." he gestured up front to where she sat.

Marinette floundered for a moment, as all the attention shot to her, "I-well..." she caught sight of Adrien and remembered how he'd been willing to speak up for her in the locker room, and gathered herself. "Lila told Damocles that she has a disease that makes her unable to control what she says. That doesn't explain the planted evidence however." she was curious to see how Lila would spin this.

"Wait-hold on, a disease that makes her say random stuff?" Alya had her phone out, "Like what?"

"Well, I'd imagine all three things she accused me of, since she confessed to those." Marinette replied. "But I have no idea outside of that." she sunk into her seat in relief as all the attention turned back to Lila. She hated not just mentioning every other lie she'd ever told but that wasn't going to get her on the classes good side.

"So? How did the evidence get there if the accusations were false?" Chloe pressed, withholding a smirk.

"I-" she was backed into a corner, mind spinning. "I only said that because Adrien told me to!" maybe the truth was the best way, for once. She felt a vindication as he was the one now under fire, that's what you get for crossing Lila Rossi.

Adrien swallowed as the attention turned to him, but underneath that was a sickening realization he was reaching. How _did_ Hawkmoth know? Whatever she'd done, she'd done it of her free will, but, maybe she was their best way to find Hawkmoth. "I told you to right the wrong you'd caused Marinette, and you didn't deny that it was you that caused it." he said, calmer than he felt. "Which sounds to me, like _you_ planted the evidence."

Lila froze for a split second, before bursting into sobs, buying her time to think as well as sympathy. "I only did it for you!" she burst out to the stunned classroom. "I just want what's best for you!" she looked up, desperately finding his face to appear genuine, "Marinette isn't good for you!" was her final blow.

Nobody was expecting the uncaring expression paired with the frown on his face. "You sound just like my father." he said flatly before most of the class had even looked away from her, and thus caught the look of trapped surprise Lila sported for a moment. "Is that it? My father put you up to this?!" he demanded, shooting up from his seat with a sudden anger. That was just like him, dictating his friends and using someone to spy on him when he didn't comply!

"I-I-" wait, this was her best bet to get out of this scot-free! She'd be a fool not to take it. "Not in so many words..." she said meekly, looking away from the class, bringing small tears up and blinking quickly. They'd be back on her side now, she was just a poor kid manipulated by an adult, both of which just wanted the best for Adri-

"Oh my god." Nathaniel spoke up for the first time since starting this. "Oh my god!" he said again, looking around the room frantically. "Alya-that's not streaming right?" he asked frantically, catching sight of her phone.

"N-no! Just recording! Why?" she floundered, still reeling from the blows, that Lila did (or did not?) have a disease that caused her to lie, followed by the fact Marinette had been right and Lila _had_ done it all yesterday, the realization a grown man was manipulating a teenager was still sinking in, let alone whatever bomb was about to come out.

"My father is Hawkmoth." Adrien said with wide eyes, attempting to drop back into his seat but missing and hitting the floor hard.

* * *

Nath was the pushing force because A. I love him B. I think he would start thinking of Akuma in terms of plot after working on a comic with Marc, and C. He sits next to Lila so everyone's attention would already be sorta on her.

Meanwhile, after her day yesterday Marinette is trying to stay out of it all for at least a day, no luck.

Just in case it wasn't clear, as the class got off on a tangent and most of them don't remember why exactly this conversation had started. Nath and Adrien connected the dots that Hawkmoth knowing there would be a good excuse for mass akumatization, and Gabriel having supported the one that caused the situation, was probably related. Adrien of course also knows about the book that put Ladybug on his trail to begin with, which makes him even more sure than Nath who's just suspecting it now.


End file.
